The Mists of Erantia (Realm of Arkon Book 7)

by G. Akella

  "Heal the MT!"

  The lamps hanging from the ceiling flashed through the slits of my helm. The incredible blow hurled me into the skeletons to my rear, flinging them aside as I soared fifteen feet through the air.

  "Strike, damn it!"

  Four hits from the surrounding skeletal warriors critted on me, but the ocean of healing that followed recovered half of the HP lost in a second. Leaping to my feet, I kicked an undead warrior trying to rise, and put up my shield, but the boss charging towards me careened to a stop as the dragons seized him by the rear. The undead around me crumbled back to the floor, and Morgh's carcass took about ten million direct damage right to the ass. With no skeletons around anymore, the archers and mages were pummeling him right in the back. I took a step forward, my shield protecting me from the swords, and struck out with an Ice Blade. Crit!

  "Keep up the damage! Look alive!" I heard the raid leader in the channel. His voice sounded calm once more. "Allard, Bonbon, spread your guys out!"

  Shield block, then Tongue of Flame. The dragons were preventing Morgh from turning, and blocking his attacks was no longer a challenge. This battle continued for at most three minutes, when at last the monster's carcass twitched, and he dropped his swords as George and Lola toppled him.

  You've earned a unique achievement, Morgh Garng's Slayer. Morgh Garng is a unique boss that can only be killed once. You and your allies have been granted a permanent 5% increase to your physical and magic damage.

  You have gained a level! Current level: 259.

  You have 1 talent point to allocate.

  Class bonus: +1 to intellect; +1 to spirit.

  You have 3 stat points to allocate.

  "Gratz, all," Jin Ho said, his voice weary. "Now finish off what's left."

  The elf slowly wiped his face with his hands. His gaze found me in the crowd, and he shook his head.

  "Well done, of course, but if it were up to me, I'd send any tank behaving like that to a level 20 dungeon for training... Thanks, though." He looked at Vaessa, placed his right hand on his left shoulder, and gave a small bow. "Mistress..."

  "Anytime," the necromancer's daughter replied with a smile. "As for the prince, well, this is his usual behavior, and we're used to running after him."

  "I noticed."

  The elf looked around the bone-littered corridor, considered the carcass of the slain boss, and pointed to one of the metal structures up ahead.

  "Centuries, to me. The rest of you, take a break. No advancing beyond this line, you hear? Thanks for the fun, everyone."

  Chapter 18

  The twisted metal lining the walls reminded me of the intertwining steel lattice of a construction crane. I didn't care much about collecting and distributing the loot, so Donut took care of that while I found a piece of metal, sat down, sipped some water, and pulled out my pipe. Five billion HP... I'd never had to take down a monster that large before. It made sense, though. Bosses' HP was determined by dungeon level. The average level 200 player with standard equipment rarely did more than 25,000 DPS. So, even three hundred DD players placed in the ideal positions would take ten to fifteen minutes to finish him off. Of course, the monster wouldn't make it easy. This one specifically had tried to create a Bone Vortex, and I doubted any raid could withstand that trick for long. We would have had to retreat, adding significant time to the battle. And who knew what other tricks the beast had had up his sleeve?

  A raid like this was essentially baptism by fire—at this rate I'd be thinking like a real gamer soon. And I was only starting to begin to understand the game culture that this whole world had come from.

  I let out a puff of smoke, smiled, and shook my head. As least I was learning.

  It took about an hour to collect and divvy up the loot. I gathered from the channel that the boss had dropped sixteen epics, four of which were scalable. Just as expected. Since three of the four items were pieces of paladin armor, Donut naturally claimed a new tank helmet for one of our warriors. I didn't listen to the rest—my head was filled with other thoughts.

  "What are you thinking about?"

  Jin Ho wiped the dust from the piece of metal next to mine, sat and lit up, looking thoughtfully at his rust-stained palm.

  "This dungeon." I looked around at all the bones. "It didn't used to be connected to the companion of the Twice Cursed God. And the boss had a title I haven't seen before: Terror of the Catacombs."

  "There are so many strange things about this place. The catacombs are arranged so that some places can only be found by secret passage. No players have even found this dungeon, or they would have come and told us. We pay well for that kind of information." Jin Ho followed my puff of smoke with his own, and nodded down the corridor leading into the depths of the catacombs. "I think you're right that this dungeon was planned as the game's final dungeon. Maybe the developers thought to run some kind of event here."

  "When the mobs kept the raid immobilized like that—has that happened before?"

  The elf bent over and picked up a small piece of metal, flipping it in the air a few times.

  "Things were different before. The raid would enter a dungeon, and the countdown would begin. The players had at least five minutes to get into position. The mobs even came in waves, too. Three to five groups, with the boss at the end. But this time, it's nothing like that. The whole corridor aggroed on us at once. I guess that move from blue to orange really meant something. Of course, perhaps these mobs are just the remnants of what was here before, who knows? No point to thinking on it further, anyway."

  "You're right," I nodded. As I stood, I put my pipe—which had gone out some minutes ago—back into my bag, and suggested we proceed.

  "Let's go." Jin Ho followed me, tossing the piece of metal back to the floor. "By the way, I came to ask you not to improvise like that anymore. If you die, we fail. And I hate failing." With a final shrug, the elf left me for the officers awaiting his return.

  "I'll try..."

  The huge pentagonal hall was shrouded in a soft blue light pouring through the geometric patterns cut into the ceiling. The tomb itself was about sixty feet further down. We could see it in its entirety from where Jin Ho had stopped the troops. Strange symbols burned in the air over the huge elevated stone sarcophagus. The walls bore familiar runes, and giant figures with their arms crossed stood in each of the five corners. Whoever designed this room could have put a little more time into it, but what did we care? We weren't here for the sights.

  Teiran was here, wrapped in a gray shroud—a skin-stretched level 609 skeleton, standing three hundred feet back from the sarcophagus, clutching a small sickle. Well, it seemed small, given it was wielded by a monster over twenty feet in height, but it was large enough to make any grim reaper drool in jealousy, and with a handle that was shorter and much thicker.

  To either side of his feet, two pools of venomous green bubbled into the floor. Behind him stood two stationary portals, out of which chains of zombies extended themselves into the hall. It was surreal, and horrifying. The undead carried pieces of rotting flesh from the portals into the bubbling puddles, where they disappeared. Each portal, being stationary, had a brown-colored strength meter above it. Teiran himself hadn't seen us, remaining in some kind of hypnotic state. A barely perceptible force field flickered around him, and his HP bar was hidden. The feint greenish glow that rose from the puddles on the floor enveloped him. I had trouble figuring out exactly what was going on here, but those puddles must have been somehow connected to the disease or curse that this companion of Vill intended to unleash upon Vaedarr. Sebastian had been right: besides Teiran, one hundred level 300 death knights and two level 400 bosses were present. Not enough of an army to conquer Vaedarr, so the plague must have been part of the plan.

  The knights were mounted and lined up in two rows, to the left and right of the pools, each rocking one hundred million HP. The two bosses, each commanding fifty knights, were familiar to me. G'Larnus and Urgam, only they no longer bore any resembla
nce to humans. Fifteen feet tall and clad in adamantine death knight armor, with four billion HP, two-handed greatswords, and eyes glowing crimson from under lowered visors. Over the past fifteen hundred years, both monsters had apparently earned promotions. They stood behind their half-centuries, themselves without steeds. No, they would not be able to take Vaedarr, but they were more than enough of a challenge for us. Still, it was better to face them here than to run around Vaedarr later in search of the bastards.

  What surprised me most was that none of the five hundred people with me uttered a word. But that made sense, on second thought—more than half of them had been raiding from before I was even born. There was simply no substituting that kind of experience.

  "Mistress," Jin Ho broke the silence, turning to Vaessa. "Perhaps you understand what is happening?"

  She shook her head. "No more than anyone else here. All I can say for sure is that the liquid in those pools presents no danger to us. At least not yet."

  Greenwater, Jaelitte broke in. That white-haired bastard and his henchmen have been in cahoots with one of the Seven. That muck is enough for half of Erantia. But your girlfriend is right: it is no danger until Teiran delivers it upstairs and activates it.

  He can't do that here, right?

  He could, but it would nerf his objective. The spell to activate it is dark magic, and using it would consume all of the substance. There's just not enough air in here. It would hit us, of course, but it would never reach Vaedarr. Failing to find any more victims, it would dissipate. Enough questions for now. I'm sensing something behind that force field of his, but I cannot discern quite what it is, and you are interfering.

  Lita disconnected. I told Vaessa what she had said, along with everyone else in the officer channel.

  "Got it," Jin Ho acknowledged. He nodded at the death knights. "They see us, but the stairs are keeping them from attacking. Centuries one and three will approach from the left. Century two, up the middle. Four and five will take the right. Yuong will take G'Larnus, and Allard, you take Urgam. Once we hit the third step, we charge. You remember the training. Traps in front of our line, shields on the tanks, regen right after, and paladins help the healers. Second century watches the flanks of the others, and unloads on Teiran. We take them all out, destroy the portals, and then switch to the boss. MT, get him away from those puddles. Everything clear? Let's buff up. We attack on my command!"

  I checked the vials in my belt just to be safe, and joined the others in their descent to the third step. I took up position directly across from Teiran, and waited for the command to attack. After a moment, a haze engulfed the boss' figure, and his shroud turned into a silvery suit of armor. His HP became visible: eleven and a half billion. Not bad...

  "I've been waiting for you, demon!" his low, booming voice sounded out from all sides. "And for those you bring along. Activating my spell requires a sacrifice, and a few hundred sentient beings such as yourselves will serve that purpose well. In fact, you brought me even more than I need! Today Vaedarr shall become a great stronghold on Karn for my Master!"

  "Charge!" Jin Ho yelled. The centuries broke free and rushed to take up their positions.

  "Attack!" G'Larnus and Urgam shouted in unison. The knights lowered their spears and rushed at the players coming at them.

  "Traps, HoTs! Tanks, defend!"

  I Jumped out far ahead, ignoring the charging knights. Smashing one of the vials Fenrir had given me, I dashed towards Teiran. Thirty feet out, I blocked a Spear of Darkness hurtling towards me, and continued, closing the gap in a flash.

  Infernal Rage! Ice Blade! Teiran was so massive I could reach only to his hip with my sword. A blade thrust into my shoulder as another Spear of Darkness took me in the chest, cutting out nearly a quarter of my HP. It was difficult to block the weapons of a being so much larger than I was, but the damage was tolerable, plus the HoT regen spells were active, and the healers pumped my health right back up to maximum. A revolting stench filled my nostrils. Behind me, I heard a loud clatter as one trap after another was triggered. Cries of pain, the roaring of the flames, and the thuds of ice and stone boulders, as before.

  "Mass heal! Paladins, Shield of Faith on the tanks! Get rid of those debuffs! Recast the HoTs!"

  Blocking another blow from the giant sickle, I took another Spear of Darkness to the chest. I countered with Tongue of Flame to the beast's knee, then circled around Teiran, blocking another blow and lunging with an Ice Blade, all the while leading him away from the puddles and simultaneously trying to read the current situation.

  Nothing was going as planned. Only a third of the death knights had gotten caught in the traps—the rest were attacking the line. Gray icons were popping up in the raid, but the guys were holding for now. The numbers were dropping in a roughly one-to-one ratio, with more than half of the knights engaging the tanks blocking their way. Just beyond the boss' legs I could see the second century with Vaessa, and Reece, who had all abandoned attacking Teiran and were assisting the rest. George and Lola were covering my healers, which made sense—if I died, all of them would probably die, too. Apparently concluding the same, Teiran turned, ignoring my blows, and began raising his hands above his head. A dark cloud appeared over the first and third centuries, summoning some unspeakable abomination down on the soldiers.

  "Clear the debuffs! Mass heal! First and third, get out of that crap!"

  The raid leader's voice was still calm and collected. He was fighting with the second century, and keeping an eye on the whole battle.

  Ice Blade! Block the scythe with my shield! Tongue of Flame! Two steps back. Zombies marched on from portals to puddles, paying me no heed.

  Ice Blade! Block the scythe with my shield! Damn it! The puddles began flowing after their boss. The beast was dragging them along with him!

  I blocked the scythe again, and in the next instant, a monstrous blow from a two-handed sword knocked me down onto the stone slabs. Dismissing the warrior tanking him, Urgam leaped over a puddle and began attacking me from the rear. The next blow of the scythe and a Spear of Darkness critted, dropping my life to thirty percent.

  "Heal the MT, fast! Second century, forward! Focus on Urgam!"

  "Bastards!"

  The rage that washed over my mind muted the pain. I rolled into one of the puddles, dodging the next blow from the two-handed sword. With one Step through Darkness, I was behind Urgam. Ice Blade! Dispersion! Tongue of Flame! Crit! You won't get away this time! Another shield block, another sidestep, another block of the scythe. Ice Blade! Crit! Both bosses were on me now. I had enough healing coming in, and Dispersion reduced the damage I took by 25%. Only about fifteen feet sat between the puddles, and the monsters were getting in each other's way since they apparently didn't want to get their feet wet. Realizing that Urgam wasn't going to leave me alone, I shifted positions, trying to deal damage to Teiran while using him as a shield against the death knight's two-hander.

  The second century was already in place. Urgam's HP bar jerked, then began to drop. Around eleven minutes passed in this unbelievable dance. Teiran attacked the raid with his AoE spells about once per minute, but the healers coped with the damage; likewise, I had managed to adapt to the attacks coming in from both bosses. The air was filled with swearing soldiers, moaning wounded, clashing metal, roaring dragons, commanding centurions. My Infernal Rage had reset many minutes ago, but I was saving it for the final push. I blocked the scythe with my shield. Ice Blade! One step back and to the right. Tongue of Flame! Another strike blocked with my shield. One step back. Another block of the scythe. Ice Blade! The centurions reported in the channel that the knights had been destroyed, and that about a third of their warriors had perished. His HP down to ten percent, Urgam turned and rushed at the second century, but stumbled and fell to the stone slabs before reaching them.

  "Portal one finished! Portal two finished!"

  The line of zombies stopped its surreal march.

  "Krian! Venom!"

  A bottle yanked
from my belt smashed into the monster's right thigh—and Teiran's HP dropped to eight hundred million. The hell? But... No, all questions would come later.

  Infernal Rage, followed by another block of the scythe!

  "Damage! More damage! Paladins, Fury of Light on your parties!"

  "Fools. You cannot stop me!"

  Teiran threw his scythe to the side and forced his arms into the air. The glow around his shoulders flared up in poisonous green, and the boss' HP was fully restored.

  "Die!"

  She's inside! Hel's inside him! Cover Vaessa!

  Jaelitte's voice escalated to a scream.

  "Vaessa! Bell, now!"

  My Dispersion was still on cooldown, but that didn't matter! Setara's Shield protected the necromancer's daughter and the nearby Reece. The next second, Teiran dropped his hands, and the poisonous green light filled the whole space around him.

  Your Toughness skill has increased to 64%

  Your Toughness skill has increased to 65%

  Get up! I heard my wife's voice, reaching into the void.

  Unbelievable pain was tearing my body apart. I reflexively smashed a vial of Greater Healing on my belt, and looked around. Virtually no one had survived. Only me, Reece, and Vaessa and the dragons endured. Teiran's spell had thrown me back about fifty feet, towards the sarcophagus on the steps. The hall was littered with corpses, the silence broken only by the clanking of Teiran's steps coming towards me, and the melodious ringing of the bell.